Chapter 18 - THE DOCTOR'S CONFESSION
Nathaniel Voss was found in a rented house near Lake Geneva.
He did not try to run.
When Daniel's team arrived, he was sitting at a kitchen table with a glass of water and an open suitcase beside him. His hair had turned almost completely white. He looked older than the photographs in the clinic records.
Luca met him the next morning in a secure office.
Voss stared at the wheelchair.
“I wondered whether you'd ever come looking.”
“You knew I would.”
“I hoped you wouldn't.”
Luca placed the toxicology report on the table.
“Tell me what you gave me.”
Voss looked at the report.
“A compound designed to suppress nerve transmission. It was experimental. I was told it would be used for a short period.”
“By whom?”
“Silas Rourke.”
“Why?”
Voss rubbed his forehead.
“He said you were becoming unstable. That you were planning to dismantle the family's operations and expose financial arrangements that had protected several people for years.”
“So he wanted me incapacitated.”
“He wanted you unable to make decisions. He believed the effect would be temporary.”
“But it wasn't.”
Voss closed his eyes.
“The first doses caused weakness. When you didn't recover as quickly as expected, Silas ordered additional doses. He said you needed more time.”
Luca's voice became very quiet.
“Did you know I was conscious?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know I could hear people?”
Voss did not answer.
Luca leaned forward.
“I heard my men discussing my businesses. I heard my family arguing about whether I should be moved to a long-term facility. I heard you tell them I would never walk again.”
Voss lowered his head.
“I am sorry.”
“That's not an answer.”
“Yes,” Voss whispered. “I knew.”
For a moment, Luca could not speak.
He remembered the years of staring at the ceiling, the humiliating examinations, the endless explanations about permanent damage. He remembered the first time a nurse had told him he should be grateful to be alive.
And all that time, the doctor had known.
“Why did you continue?”
“Silas controlled the payments. He threatened my family. He said if I stopped, he would tell the authorities I had administered the compound without authorization.”
“You could have told the authorities anyway.”
“I was afraid.”
Luca looked at him.
“So was I.”
Voss's face crumpled.
He admitted that Silas had ordered the original doses and continued renewing them. He also confessed that the medical records had been altered to make the condition appear consistent with a catastrophic vascular event.
“Do you have proof?” Daniel asked.
Voss nodded.
He had kept a private ledger, including dosage instructions, payment records, and messages from Silas. He had hidden the ledger inside a safe-deposit box under his sister's name.
Daniel arranged for the evidence to be recovered and verified.
Luca stood—or rather, remained seated—looking at the man who had helped steal twelve years from him.
“I could make you disappear,” he said.
Voss flinched.
“But that would make this about my anger. I want the truth recorded. I want you to answer for what you did.”
Voss nodded.
May you like
“I'll cooperate.”
“Then start by telling investigators everything.”
